, Cognitive, Educational and Behavioural Assessment Services

Amy Ross, Psychologist and Director

Amy is one of the founding directors of Brainy Assessments and an experienced Psychologist. Amy is also a board approved supervisor. Amy has been working in schools and private practice with children and adolescents since 2013. She is experienced in counselling children and adolescents, and providing diagnostic assessments. Amy is particularly interested in working in the area of Autism and working with young people to identify and celebrate their unique strengths.

In addition to her work at Brainy Assessments, Amy continues her work as a School Psychologist. Amy is dedicated to providing best practice services to children, adolescents and their families. Amy is passionate about educational assessment and has experience administering assessment with children in pre-school through to senior secondary school.

Jaymie Kourlinis, Educational and Developmental Psychologist and Director

Jaymie is proudly one of the founding directors of Brainy Assessments. She is an endorsed Educational and Developmental Psychologist, and a board approved supervisor. Since 2012 Jaymie has worked in a range of school settings (public, catholic, and independent). She has worked extensively with young people, ranging in age from pre-school to senior secondary school. Jaymie is experienced in working with children and adolescents providing counselling support and targeted assessment. 

Jaymie is most passionate about educational assessment and identifying learning difficulties. Her particular interest is in helping students and their families to understand their learning strengths and challenges, with a focus on how they can work towards achieving their learning goals. 

Kezia Matheson, Educational and Developmental Psychologist

Kezia obtained her Masters of Educational and Developmental Psychology from Monash University, and is as an endorsed Educational and Developmental Psychologist. Kezia has experience in a diverse range of settings, including private practice and schools. She is particularly interested in working with neurodiverse clients, school aged children and adolescents. Kezia considers the client's perspective and experience to be of utmost importance during the assessment process.

Alongside Brainy, Kezia works in a government secondary school and private practice. She finds these roles invaluable in helping her to understand the impact of her client's learning difficulties in the classroom, and to provide realistic and useful recommendations to teachers and parents. 

 

Chloe Waddell, Psychologist

Passionate about working with young people, Chloe is a registered Psychologist with training in Educational and Developmental Psychology. She is also continuing to expand her learning through her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), focusing on older Australians and ageing well.

Conducting assessments is one of Chloe’s favourite jobs as a Psychologist, as she loves putting the puzzle pieces together to help understand what may be contributing to a young person’s difficulties, and provide strategies moving forward. Chloe has experience in cognitive, educational, behavioural, and social-emotional testing, and has an interest in identifying and working with neurodivergence including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She also has experience in assessing learning difficulties, and enjoys working with schools, families and the young person to help reduce barriers for learning and engagement. Chloe is an inclusive practitioner, and has worked with clients and families with a range of needs, presentations, experiences and backgrounds.

Beki McColl, Educational and Developmental Psychologist

Beki is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist, who has experience working across both educational and private settings, providing counselling, intervention, and diagnostic assessments.  Beki is a caring and enthusiastic Psychologist who prides herself on providing best practice with a focus on supporting positive change for the young person.  

Beki is skilled in educational and diagnostic assessments with a keen interest in Specific Learning Disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Throughout the assessment process, Beki focuses on empowering and educating the young person, as well as their family and school staff as to what supports can be put into place to make sure the individual is reaching their full potential, inside and outside of the classroom.    

When Beki is not at Brainy Assessments, she is the Educational Psychologist at The Geelong College, providing counselling support and assessment of educational and mental health needs.  

Sonja Katsivelis, Psychologist

Sonja completed her Masters of Professional Psychology at the University of Melbourne and has worked across educational and private settings with children, adolescents, and young adults. She has experience conducting cognitive and learning assessments, as well as providing individual and group counselling and intervention for clients. Sonja prides herself on delivering informative feedback to clients, their families, and schools with a range of recommendations tailored to the young person and their environment. Sonja employs a client-centred approach to ensure the client’s needs are heard in order to support them to thrive in their environment with an understanding of their strengths and difficulties. She has a keen interest in assessing and working with clients with Specific Learning Disorders and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

In addition to her work with Brainy, Sonja works in private practice where she provides individual counselling and assessment of cognitive and educational functioning for a wide range of presentations.